Some 300,000 people applied to Top Court for violation of rights in 8 years

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

With the “right to individual applications” granted by Turkey to its citizens, some 300,000 people applied to the Top Court due to the violation of their rights from September 2012 until Dec. 31, 2020.

Turkey granted the “right to individual applications” to its citizens on Sept. 23, 2012, in order to reduce the number of cases in the European Court of Human Rights.

In a short period, some 1,300 people applied to the Top Court in 2012. This number jumped to nearly 10,000 in 2013 and exceeded 20,000 in 2014 and 2015.

The year 2016 stood out with the highest number of applications filed, nearly 81,000 applications were made. However, the number of applications made reduced by half in the following year. Some 40,500 applications were filed in 2017.

In 2018, the number was down to some 38,000 but topped 42,000 in 2019.

Out of the 300,000 applications made to the Top Court, some 257,000 were determined, and nearly 38,000 applications are in the final decision-making stage.

Among the reasons for filing applications, some 63.3 percent of people applied to the Top Court due to their “violation of the right to a fair trial,” followed by 19.4 percent who claimed, “violation of proprietary rights,” and 4.2 percent people who claimed, “violation of right to free speech.”

Violation of the “right to privacy,” “right to assembly and demonstration,” “presumption of innocence,” and “freedom of religion and conscience,” were other reasons for which people filed applications.